Friday, 29 July, 2005 10:44 PM

NHL Returns; Red Wings Get New Coach

The NHL lockout is over...finally!! The entire 2004-05 season is gone and hockey will return to the ice in October to start the 2005-06 regular season.

Each team will have a salary cap for its players. It will be in the range from $22 million to a cap of $39 million for each team. This new rule is expected to even out the playing field.

In 2003-04, the Stanley Cup Champions were the Tampa Bay Lighting. This will be the first season since 1919 during the flu epidemic that there has been no team awarded the Stanley Cup.

Many players are no longer on contracts and are considered free-agents. Those players who have a contract are having their salary lowered by 24%. Teams have to cut the salaries of their players to fit the new salary caps.

NBC is going to be the official TV partner of the NHL hockey league. They originally inked the deal for last season, but since there was no hockey, it couldn't be on TV. This will be the first time that NBC has ever showed hockey on it's network.

The first day of hockey to be played in the 2005-06 season will be on October 5th. There will be 15 games going on simultaneously to make it the biggest night ever in the history of the league. Each team in the NHL will be on the ice that day. The previous record was 14 games in one day.

There will be an Olympic break from February 13-27, 2006. This time the Olympics will be held in Turin, Italy. There will be no All-Star weekend because of the upcoming Olympics.

The last day of the regular season will be on April 18, 2006. The Stanley Cup playoffs will begin on the 21st.

Detroit gets a new coach: Mike Babcock

Dave Lewis will be replaced by Mike Babcock as head coach of the Detroit Red Wings in the 2005-06 season.

Previously, Babcock was coaching a junior league team in Spokane, Washington and a minor league affiliate in Cincinnati, Ohio. He also coached the Anaheim Mighty Ducks and almost won the Stanley Cup two years ago.

He talks about Detroit's team as a whole, "There are some great, great players here. Unbelieveable passers. I think on the backend that you have some guys who can really get the puck going upfront."

During his two years with the Mighty Ducks, Babcock's record was 69 wins, 76 losses and 19 tied games. He will replace Dave Lewis who served as head coach of the Red Wings for one year.

The Red Wings still need to find another goalie. The only one who is currently under a contract is Manny Legace. We do not know whether or not if Steve Yzerman will return for another season.

Predicted Salaries for the Detroit Red Wings

Sources: Sportsline.com, Yahoo.com